Grayling are fabulous fish and I seriously envy those who have access to a bit of decent grayling fishing. My nearest grayling river is Berkshire’s River Kennet but access is limited and the quality of the fish and fishing doesn’t really compare to that available on the Itchen. So, even though it meant an early start and yet another flog down the M3 to Southampton my hand was up the second Jerry asked if anyone was interested in a day on the Lower Itchen Fishery (LIF).
Having not fished a river seriously for some time it took me an age to find and sort out my trotting gear but it was finally done and by 6am on the Sunday of the fish in I was southbound with every fleece I possess in the car ‘just in case’. I was a few minutes later than planned and overshot the fishery turning in my eagerness but I needn’t have worried as the ‘Usual Suspects’ were all gathered in the gloom swapping tales of previous Fish ins and slyly trying to extract the latest bit of info on the LIF from anybody who looked as if they might know….in other words Neil Maidment!
“Here he is at last” said Jerry (Barbelboi)
” You must be Skippy” said somebody.
“I am” I said, while at the same time wondering how anybody can look like a ‘Skippy’? It’s a bit odd, but I suppose I must.
There were lots of familiar faces, most of whom I could put names to; though I admit I needed a bit of a prompt with some of the others. The general feeling was that we might be in for a good day as it wasn’t that cold, there was no appreciable wind and it was nice and overcast – in fact so much so that I began to think roach instead of grayling.
“Right” said Jerry suddenly, “let’s go fishing” and with that just about everyone took off like scalded cats to the top of the lower beat leaving only myself, Neil and Graham Elliott in the car park, plus a robin so full of maggots he could barely walk, let alone fly…
Now Neil is a sly old fox so I suspected he was up to no good.
“What do you know?” I said.
“Oh nothing” he replied…”Except that it’s been fishing quite well at this bottom end…”
I rest my case…
Graham was most apologetic but, unless anybody objected, he thought he might try below the ‘race’ as he’d had some nice roach there on other trips. Now I’m no LIF expert but I do know that in the right water some very big roach and barbel can be found below the race at the back of the houses. The water did look rather low, but so were the light levels, so I thought I’d start there too and give it an hour on the bread to see if I could tempt a big old roach.
Almost as soon as I’d set up I knew it was too low and Graham wisely moved up nearer to the run off where there was a bit more depth. There was one spot I thought might hold fish and as I was setting up something ‘roachy’ rolled right where I expected so I gave it the hour I’d promised myself. Realistically I was probably looking for one bite but it never materialised and, to be honest, I wasn’t that surprised.
Upstream of me Graham was getting the odd bit of interest including a couple of grayling and an exceptionally ugly looking flounder, which looked almost as surprised to be caught as the captor did to catch it. Neil had vanished, which I found strangely unsettling but he soon re-appeared to say that he’d had a couple of small sea trout but, more importantly, he’d had a message saying we could fish the top beat. I was packed up and on my way back to the car in about 90 seconds!
There is loads of terrific water on the LIF but my best days have always been on the top beat near the railway bridge. I once moved onto a swim Geoff Maynard had vacated and promptly bagged up on big ‘kipper’ grayling. ‘I’d be happy to give that one a go again’ I thought as I loaded the car ready for the trek to the hut on the top beat.
The first time I fished the LIF I walked it not realising just how far it is and I arrived in a state of near collapse. It is a very long walk and definitely not for old boys like me! Mind you it’s an interesting enough journey in a car as there are some serious potholes and the whole experience is like a Range Rover Off Road Day…you just hope to miss the biggest shell holes and pray you still have an exhaust when you arrive.
On the way up I stopped to chat to Ian and Simon, both of whom had caught so it seemed that, for once, the river gods were smiling on us. There hadn’t been a spot of rain either but that meant nothing as I’d not seen Evan (Windy) yet and as everyone knows ‘Noah’ travels with his own personal micro-climate.
Arriving at the top hut I saw Neil creeping about on the far (off limits) bank; I thought he was up to no good but it transpired that he’d simply got lost and taken a ‘short cut’ that didn’t actually go anywhere. Crossing the field we found Roger and Jimmy Hill on their favourite bend. Jimmy had already had a cracking grayling of 2lb and went on to enjoy a really good day despite losing a good roach. Roger summed their day up as follows:
“All in all one of the best Itchen fish ins I’ve been to for a long time, despite having been completely trashed by my nipper!
Jimmy and I duly arrived at one of our favourite swims and within five minutes the lad had netted a quality grayling that went exactly 2lb. That was an indicator of the how the day was going to pan out – me netting his fish.
Jimmy ended up with too many grayling to remember, but somewhere over 20, with three chub over 4lb, and a bunch of kamikaze trout.
His one regret was bumping a quality roach at the net which he reckons was around the pound and a half mark. Not surprising really as it was the first one he had to net himself…
I didn’t fare so well but still managed plenty of grayling and trout and had a very enjoyable encounter with a sea trout of around 7lb.”
While Neil stopped to chat with Roger and Jimmy I shot off and bagged the swim I fancied, a pacey run and glide on a bend below the railway and a known fish holding spot.
I quickly tooled up with my beloved Marksman rod and ‘pin and, guessing the depth at about three feet, fed a dozen maggots and followed them down with the float. Halfway down the run the float vanished and I found myself attached to an absolute lump of a grayling.
The flow was so powerful it really was a devil of a job to ease him back upstream against the current, I managed it but with the rod locked up and that big old dorsal set I just could not move him across the current to the net.
Stalemate.
Bending into him as much as I dared I got him to within a foot or so of the net before he flicked that big old sail across the current once more, winked at me, and the hook hold gave.
How big?
Hard to say but I got a very good look and I’d put him at well over two and a half pounds; not the best of starts!
But things did pick up, the big fish was not alone and I proceeded to catch steadily for the rest of the day although I did lose almost as many fish as I hooked because of the pressure of the current on the hook hold. I changed hook patterns and sizes but it made no difference – I still lost fish. (My favourite trick to prevent this is to tie in a pole elastic shock absorber, works nearly every time – Ed.)
I finished with between 25 to 30 grayling plus a few very pretty brownies. I had maybe six or seven grayling over 1lb 8oz with the best two comfortably 2lb plus and a couple more nudging that mark, including one hooked in the dorsal which took me all over the river and was only landed by a great deal of luck and some rather deft network by Mr. Maidment. I was also broken up by a fish I never saw which buried itself under the far bank, if it was a grayling then it was the mother of all grayling but I rather suspect it was the manky old cock salmon that had been showing all morning. As black as a very black hat and I really didn’t mind that thing coming off at all…
Getting back to the antics of Neil and I must tell you what that rascal got up to.
Firstly, he would not sit (or rather stand) still. He was here, there and everywhere looking for fish: above the bridge, right on the top limit, just below the bridge, all over the place in fact. For the most part he was doing great slaughter to the trout population interspersed with the odd decent grayling until he finally settled on a streamy run just above me and found a pocket of fish about nine inches upstream of my right foot!
Not content with his own fish he then proceeded to nick all of mine by ladling in maggots like a man with four arms. Now I fell for this trick like a kipper because I was brought up fishing much more sedate waters than the big, brawling Wessex rivers that he is so used to. It is a flaw in my approach to fishing a big river that I am well aware of – I am simply not aggressive enough with my feeding.
Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot watching Neil work his swim and he deserved every fish he caught, and by God he had a few too! Even allowing for my dodgy scales I reckon Neil had four or five fish on or over 2lb with the biggest 2lb 5oz. Cracking fish and a very, very accomplished float angler. I could have sat and watched him all day and gone home a better angler for it – I did in any case.
By about 3.30pm my back had just about had enough and I decided that there was no point exhausting myself when I’d had such a good day. The last few trots down produced a couple more average grayling and a lost chub before it was time to trek back to the car, which, oddly, seemed about a mile further away than it did earlier, I made it – but barely.
Back at the Mill Neil was collecting the last of the ticket money and everybody was saying what a great day it had been. Windy had turned up fashionably late but for once had not brought the Biblical tempest that normally accompanies him; he’d also caught some fish – so that was a double first for him!
In their own words this is how some of the others fared:
Edsurf
I had thirteen grayling, a few around the pound mark with the biggest one about two pounds from the top beat, and I also had a good-sized sea trout and a couple of small trout. I bumped half a dozen off but that’s grayling fishing. All in all I had a cracking day and picked up a few good tips too.
Itsfishingnotcatching
I had eight grayling up to perhaps a pound, coupled with four small brown trout. I don’t have final numbers for Kevin but I know he had a couple of sea trout as well as grayling and brownies. It was a great day and good to see the ‘crew’ again, sadly it’s just too far for me to justify the cost of fishing there more regularly.
Barbelboi
I mainly trotted the upper parts of the lower beat with a single red maggot on a size 18, with a few breaks to chat with Ian, his brother in law, Evan and Edsurf. I lost count of the number of grayling I netted in this fast water, they were mainly around the pound mark, with the largest weighed at one and a half pounds. Not quite the monsters Skippy and Neil were in to but most enjoyable all the same. I stopped fishing at 1.30pm as I’d aggravated an old shoulder injury tidying up the garden midweek so later in the day I went to the mill end to have a chat with Graham, Simon and ‘Son of Meldrew’.
I think everybody caught with most enjoying a really good day’s fishing. Graham’s 11 different species was quite exceptional, though he did have a bit of insider knowledge courtesy of local expert Mick B who put him on a banker swim below the bottom bridge, no wonder he looked so pleased!
An estimate of something in the region of 300 plus grayling caught between us all, with several on or just over the 2lb mark, gives some idea of what a good day’s fishing we had. There were enough ‘spotties’ and sea trout caught to add a bit of variety too, but not in sufficient numbers to be the swim-wrecking pests that they can be at times.
All in all it was a great day’s fishing in fantastic company on a very, very nice stretch of river. Thanks to PJ for organising things, Jerry for rustling up enough interest and to Neil for showing me how to ‘attack’ a river.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did, see you all next time!
Skippy
